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Alexander Mackay
Captain Alexander Mackay was a mercenary cavalryman from Scotland. The illegitimate son of a minor noble, Mackay was fit only for military service. He was an early ally and supporter of Grantville, and even married one of its favorite daughters, Julie Sims. Forging an Alliance Mackay was in Gustavus Adolphus's Green Regiment in 1631. Officially, Mackay's regiment was responsible for garrisoning Badenburg. In truth, Mackay was waiting for a courier to bring funds from the Dutch Republic for Gustav's war effort. A few days after the Ring of Fire, Mackay, his second-in-command Andrew Lennox. and his men were scouting near the town, inspecting the result of a recent bloody attack, when Mackay noticed that the landscape of the countryside had changed slightly. One of his scouts reported something strange at a nearby farm. Here they found a mass grave, and a warning from the UMWA. After exhuming the mass grave (while pondering just who "the Umwa" might be), the cavalry were astonished to find several corpses, heavily damaged by gunshot wounds of a type they had not seen before. The patrol was then surprised by strangers wearing bizarre clothing that blended into the forest and carrying unfamiliar firearms, and realized they were about to meet "the Umwa". However, when they learned that these strangers, who were actually American miners in hunting camouflage, spoke English, and that many were of Scottish descent themselves, the two groups made an easy peace. Mackay fell hard for senior cheerleader captain Julie Sims, whom he met when the Grantville Emergency Committee's cabinet invited Mackay, Lennox, and their whole scouting patrol into Grantville High School for lunch in the school cafeteria. Later that day, Mackay proposed, and Grantville accepted, an informal alliance to protect south central Thuringia, with Mike Stearns and the Grantville Emergency Committee acting for Grantville. First Battle The Battle of the Crapper occurred two weeks or so after Stearns and Mackay agreed in principle to act jointly to protect the various regions of southern Thuringia in the summer of 1631. Along with the New United States up-timer army formed under Frank Jackson, the two forces united to defend and liberate Badenburg. Stearns joined Mackay and Lennox in the field. To Mackay's surprise, Stearns also ordered the ostensible "protectors" of Badenburg, the mercenaries led by Ernst Hoffman, to be present at the battle, knowing full well that Hoffman's undisciplined troops would be worthless. Stearns wanted not only to defeat Tilly's men, but to break Hoffman's hold on Badenburg, by terrifying both groups. Still, despite what Mackay had seen, Stearns had to convince the Scot of the Americans' technological superiority, and Mackay remained dubious right until the battle commenced. Then Mackay saw what Grantville's more advanced weapons could do. After an M-60 Machine gun ripped the invaders' line to shreds, Mackay led his men to take the fleeing survivors as prisoners. Jena The alliance continued on to the Battle of Jena, wherein Grantville met invaders outside the university town. This time, Granville's numbers were bolstered by Mackay's men, German refugees, and some women soldiers, including Julie Sims, who'd become a sniper after some training from Dr. James Nichols. Mackay continued to pine for Sims, a fact that was noticed by virtually everyone. Julie had a boyfriend, Chip Jenkins, but her uncle Frank Jackson made it clear that both he and Julie's father, Henry, had little use for Jenkins. Thus, Julie broke up with Chip Jenkins, and began dating Alex. Alex was in turn challenged to a duel by Jenkins, but it turned into a fiasco as Jenkins was unskilled in sword-fighting. Michael Stearns stepped in and banned dueling altogether. Mackay reported to Gustavus Adolphus, who was entranced by the notion of a "colony" from the future. He promoted Mackay to colonel. Mackay returned to Grantville, and oversaw the transfer of a shipment of up-time guns to Gustavus. He also asked Julie to marry him. Mission to Gustavus Mackay accompanied the mission led by Rebecca Stearns to meet with Gustavus. Julie was part of the group, and impressed Gustavus with her sharpshooting skills the next day at the Battle of Rain. The Wartburg Mackay and his men were present for the Battle of the Wartburg . No sooner did that battle end in victory for the Americans did word come that Grantville was under attack by Croat mercenaries. The attack underlined a point Mackay had been trying to make to Michael Stearns and the NUS government for some months: there just weren't enough Americans. The new republic had 2/3 of Europe arrayed against it. Thus, Stearns met with Gustavus after the Battle of Grantville and formed the Confederated Principalities of Europe. Mackay learned that Julie was pregnant when he returned to Grantville. Gustavus "ordered" Mackay to marry Julie the next day. A month later, Julie shot and wounded Albrecht von Wallenstein at the Battle of Alte Veste. Category:1632 Characters Category:Scots Category:Soldiers Category:POVs Category:Americans Category:Calvinists